Relative of Baby With Heart Defect Raises Money For Child, Then Allegedly Keeps It

However, the story has a happy ending.

Rachel and Tyler Knickerbocker had been struggling to pay for medical expenses associated with their five-month-old son's heart defect. When Tyler's godfather, Ken Wills, offered to help them raise money while they waited for Noah's heart transplant, they were thankful.

Ken received $6,500 on a GoFundMe page he started on the child's behalf. The Knickerbockers were planning to use the funds to help them pay rent on an apartment near the Wisconsin Children's Hospital where Noah is being treated (both parents had to leave their jobs in Illinois to relocate to Wisconsin for Noah).

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However, the GoFundMe page, along with the money that Ken raised disappeared recently, ABC News reports.

After Rachel noticed that the page no longer existed, she saw that Ken had posted images of checks on his Facebook page made out to the Ronald McDonald House, where the Knickerbockers had been staying with their three-year-old son, the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, and the Boston Children's Hospital where Noah had his first heart surgery. All of those places said that while they did receive some donations in Noah's name, the amount was much smaller than the value written on the checks pictured on Ken's Facebook post.

In order to raise money, Ken said he auctioned off his personal items and therefore says that he has the right to donate the money as he chooses. He claimed that donating the money to the charities would "still help Noah," and he can't explain why the organizations claim they didn't receive the full amount on the checks.

Ken told ABC News that the Knickerbockers, whom he called "family," became angry when Ken told them that his GoFundMe page for Noah would not go "to their pockets directly."

"This is just a story of greed on their part," he said. "They were the ones demanding the money."

Ken said he didn't intend to help the Knickerbockers with the cost of their Milwaukee apartment until after Noah left the hospital, but now he won't donate anything that's left from his GoFundMe page to the Knickerbockers because they "slandered" him.

Though the Knickerbockers are still having financial difficulties, they recently received some wonderful news: doctors found a heart for Noah. He underwent heart transplant surgery yesterday morning.